Unreasonable pricing?

Stewart Systems or (old) AFS has an exclusive deal with an importer in France for the whole of Europe ( http://www.aeropicardie.com/ ). This is according to Stewart Systems in the US. I just received a quote, but the price I have to pay will be at least 45% above the prices if I import myself directly from the US (sales taxes or VAT included). Shipping from France or US to Norway is approximately equal.

To me this 45% increase seems way out of line. I therefore wonder if Steward Systems can be optained in any of the large aircraft retail stores in the US?

Hi Swingen,
I'm almost in the same situation as you. Since July I sent about 10 e-mails to AeroPicardie receiveing only incomplete answers and still no quote or availability info. If the prices are so high as you reported, I think I'll buy in the US too. Unfortunatelly I live in Italy, so a "group buy" is not a good solution, I think.

Aircraft Spruce (www.aircraftspruce.com) has a few AFS products on their catalog (primer and EkoEtch), but I can't find EkoClean to complete the process. Maybe it can be obtained upon request, I'll try to send them an e-mail.

Don't need the Eko Clean

Just a little FYI...I haven't found the need to use the EKO CLEAN product for the priming process. Since it's all new metal in the Van's kits, I've had great results just using the following steps:
1) Spray on the EKO ETCH and lightly scrub with scotchbrite pad
2) let it set for a few minutes without drying
3) rinse it off with water
4) final rinse with distilled water
5) air dry
6) spray on the primer

Works great, and like I said earlier, the stuff appears to be quite durable.

Hope that helps in your decision making...